Conventional pacifiers are in common use for soothing infants and providing infants with a means to satisfy an innate non-nutritive sucking need. A conventional pacifier has a shield and a nipple extending from the shield. The nipple is typically formed of a resilient, flexible materia.
A common inconvenience associated with infant pacifier use is that pacifiers frequently fall out of or are ejected from infants' mouths. For example, if an infant falls asleep, ceases to suck on the pacifier, or moves its mouth in any number of ways, the pacifier is likely to fall from the infant's mouth. The pacifier will often drop to the floor or other unclean surface and the nipple will become dirty, especially when the pacifier falls to the ground in a public place.
When the nipple of the pacifier contacts surfaces which are not sanitary, the parent or caretaker of the infant must either clean the pacifier nipple, replace it with another pacifier, or allow the infant to use a pacifier, the sanitary condition of which has been compromised. As this sequence of events happens with great frequency, it is a great inconvenience to attend to the cleaning of pacifiers. This problem is intensified when the pacifier is being used in public areas where sanitary conditions of floors is poor, for example, in restaurants, restrooms, stores, etc., where numerous individuals walk with frequency. Since infants can be particularly susceptible to contracting illnesses, it is desirable to keep the nipple clean at all times. Therefore, when a pacifier is dropped, the typical parent or care provider must cease use of the pacifier until he or she can clean it. This is often not possible to attend to immediately. For example, when the pacifier is dropped in a public place, there may not be immediate access to a washroom. Furthermore, even simple transport of the pacifier, such as via a purse, pocket, or baby/child paraphernalia bag, or otherwise, can soil the nipple surface with dirt, dust, hair, germ or other undesirable particles.
This issue has been addressed in several manners. Several conventional pacifiers or pacifier covers are known and used which are designed to protect the nipple of a pacifier from soiling when not in use. There are numerous such devices which have a cap or cover piece which is separate from the pacifier. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,784, issued to Wang, discloses a pacifier with an attachable cap which is capable of releasably engaging the shield of the pacifier. U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,054, issued to Maniero et al. discloses a pacifier cover having a flange which is adapted to snap over the shield of the pacifier to hold the cover on the pacifier. U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 409,309, issued to Tollman, discloses a pacifier having a single cover for the nipple. U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,324, issued to Johnston, discloses a pacifier cover which has a separate cover piece having two embossments which are adapted to fit into two corresponding apertures in the shield of the pacifier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,613, issued to Ryan et al. discloses a universal pacifier case. The case has a housing which can fully enclose a typical nipple and shield assembly. The housing has a pair of engageable wall members hinged together for opening and closing the housing around the pacifier. U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,996, issued to Copeland discloses a protective pacifier having a cap which releasably attaches to the base of the pacifier by turning and snapping the cap on the base. When the pacifier is in use, the cap may be attached to the non-used side of the base.
Furthermore, U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 243,366, issued to Lybe et al., discloses a protective casing for pacifiers. The casing has a plurality of horizontal rides adapted to engage a base or shield of a pacifier to hold the casing over the pacifier. U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 448,486, issued to Horntrich, discloses a pacifier with a protective cover. The pacifier cover has two embossments which are adapted to fit within two apertures on the shield of the pacifier. U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,505, issued to Vasquez, discloses a pacifier cover wherein a pacifier may be extended through an opening in the cover and into the casing of the pacifier cover. A plurality of fingers extend from the opening and keep the pacifier in place. While these devices can protect the nipple from soiling when applied, oftentimes the pacifier cover is misplaced, lost, or left in a separate location while the pacifier is in use.
Other conventional pacifier designs attempted to address the problem of losing the separated cap or cover by providing an attached covering means for the nipple of the pacifier such that the cover would not be separated from the pacifier. For example, some conventional pacifiers have a cover which is attached to the pacifier shield or base via a ribbon to avoid separation of the components. For example, U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 340,387 discloses an ornamental design for a combined pacifier and protector. The pacifier has a shield, a nipple, and a loop fixed to the shield. At the end of the loop, there is a cover adapted to fit over the nipple.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,617, issued to Reid, discloses a pacifier having a base with a hinged cover. A pacifier can be removably secured to the base. When the pacifier is in an infant's mouth, the cover may hang from the base by a ribbon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,003, discloses a pacifier clip cover for a single nipple with a clip to secure the cover to an infant's clothing while an infant sucks on a pacifier. There is a ribbon attached to a pacifier at one end. The other end of the ribbon is connected to a pinch cover for the pacifier. The pinch cover also has a clip such that the cover can be secured to an infant's clothing while the pacifier is in use. While these devices attempt to address the problem of misplacing the cap, the ribbon or string which attaches the cover to the pacifier is often troublesome. Infants often flail their arms and produce rapid jerking movements. Such movements are likely to either break the ribbon connection or displace the entire assembly from the infant's mouth. This can either cause an unwanted disturbance to the infant, or the entire device may fall to the floor or other unclean surface and become unclean notwithstanding the attached cover. If an infant crawls while a pacifier or cover is attached to the infant's clothing, the item may drag on the floor and become dirtied or get in the way. Furthermore, ribbons, strings, cords, chains, twine, leather straps, or yarn attachments can be dangerous to infants.
The covers in the above devices do not address the problem of the pacifier nipple becoming dirtied when it fall from an infant's mouth, since the cover is not generally protecting the nipple when the pacifier is most likely to fall.
Further such conventional pacifiers having an integral cover with the pacifier are known and used. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,641, issued to Russell et al., discloses a sanitary pacifier which has a concave base member supporting an upwardly extending nipple member. A concave top member is formed of a resilient material and defines a centrally elongated slot an a collapsible side wall extending downwardly to and secured to the base member. The base member and top member form an enclosure for the nipple member. A pair of handles extend through the base member and are secured to the top member on opposite sides of the elongated slot. The handle members may be drawn through the base member causing the top member to collapse and conform to the base member and causing the nipple member to extend through the elongated slot. Though this embodiment provides an integral means of covering the nipple, the device requires a number of different parts and is therefore expensive and difficult to manufacture.
Another conventional pacifier disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,058, issued to Chen, discloses a single nipple pacifier with an integral cover. The pacifier has a base member and a nipple protrudes from a first side of the base member. A handle is secured to a second side of the base member. There is a pair of half shells which can open to form the conventional shield such that the infant does not swallow the pacifier. The half shells are pivotally connected to the base member such that they can be drawn to a closed position around the nipple. Though the device uses the same components as part of the shield and cover, the device is not a useful solution because the half shells of the device are uncomfortably too large. The half shells are required to be a large size to cover the nipple when the two half shells are brought together. Therefore, when the half shells are unfolded to form the shield, they are uncomfortably large for most infant's faces. Furthermore, they will not likely close when the pacifier is dropped.
Other conventional pacifiers having an integral means of covering the nipple are known and used. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,162, issued to Hudson, discloses a pacifier having a retractable nipple wherein the nipple is retractable into the pacifier body when the pacifier is not in use. The pacifier body has a bottom body opening and a flexible nipple structure attached to the top portion of the nipple body. There is a retraction mechanism which is mechanically connected to a nipple tip portion of the nipple structure for mechanically inverting the nipple tip portion and pulling it within a compartment formed within the pacifier. U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,481, issued to Zade, also discloses a retractable pacifier. The nipple and shield assembly of the pacifier are moved upward within has a cylindrical housing and may be locked into place via a tab. While these devices provide an integral means of keeping the nipple clean when not in use, the method is not very effective. When the pacifier is used, saliva and other germs collect on the nipple. When the nipple is retracted into the housing, the saliva and germs are transferred directly onto the housing. Even after one or two uses, the whole assembly should be cleaned to avoid placing an unclean nipple back in the infant's mouth.
Other conventional pacifiers having an integral means of covering the nipple have been contemplated. Some such devices have a collapsible portion on the pacifier. U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,630, issued to Hines, discloses a pacifier with a collapsible shield. The pacifier has a face plate, an aperture in the face plate, a nipple, and a collapsible shield preferably made of rubber. When the infant sucks on the nipple, the shield is pressed backward and the nipple protrudes through the aperture in the face plate. When the infant is done with sucking on the nipple and pressure is released on the face plate, the shield springs back to its normal position and covers the nipple. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,374, issued to Huang, discloses a protective pacifier nipple. A protective sleeve consisting of a serpentine tubular structure covers the nipple when the nipple is not in use. When the nipple is in use, the serpentine tubular structure is collapsed and the nipple is exposed. These devices are not very useful because they rely on steady suction from the infant's mouth to keep the nipple exposed. A problem with such devices is that infants do not and are oftentimes incapable of applying steady suction to the pacifier. Even when an infant stops sucking to take a short breath or simply stops sucking for a short time, the collapsible portions can snap back to their normal position and increase the tendency for the pacifier to slip out of the infant's mouth.
There are further conventional baby pacifiers having an internal means of preventing the soiling of the nipple. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,649, issued to Chamberlain, discloses a pacifier which is secured inside an infant's mouth by adjustable straps. The pacifier solves the problem of losing the pacifier when on the infant's mouth, but this configuration is often uncomfortable to an infant who often needs to make sounds, cough, or exhale. The device also does not protect the nipple unless it is worn by the baby. Furthermore, the device is uncomfortable for an infant who often wishes to take a break from the pacifier.
Since it is not uncommon for a baby to drop a pacifier regardless of whether the pacifier has no cover, a separate cover, or an attached cover, pacifiers having multiple nipples are known and used. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,125, issued to Rhoads, discloses a double-sided baby pacifier. The pacifier has two nipple portions integrally connected to a middle support member. The support member may move from a neutral position and become either convex or concave depending upon which side of the pacifier is being sucked on. U.S. Pat. Design No. 430,300, also discloses an ornamental design of a dual nipple pacifier.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,107, issued to Wexler, discloses a baby toy having up to six nipples on its periphery surfaces. The nipples are inserted into holes on the periphery surface and are held in place by retainers. The toy can be transformed into a plural nipple ball with a handle by substituting a handle assembly for one of the nipples. U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,128, discloses a one piece pliable molded polymer pacifier having a pair of hollow balls. Each ball has a plurality of nipples disposed on its surface and 90 degrees apart from one another. These devices provide an additional nipple so that if one is soiled, the other nipple(s) may be used. These devices are deficient however because they do not provide for any covering of any of the nipples. Since babies frequently will drop the above devices, it is very likely all the nipples will become soiled at the same time when dropped.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,656, discloses a dual nipple pacifier having a shield, a cover, and a pair of nipples projecting from opposite sides of the shield. There is a releasable cover which can be placed on one of the nipples while the other is exposed. One drawback of this device is the cover is a separate piece which can be misplaced as discussed above. Another drawback is one nipple is still exposed and when a parent is carrying the nipple, the exposed nipple may still be contaminated with hair, dirt, or other contaminants.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a double nipple pacifier with one easily movable, integral cover and also a double nipple pacifier having an easily movable, integral cover for each nipple of the pacifier.
It would be further desirable to provide a single nipple pacifier having a pacifier shield which is easily movable and engagable over the nipple having fewer parts and greater durabiltity.